We saw as we looked at sonship, that intimacy with God is the primary driver of everything, the primary part of our design. Works are part of our design. We all have an assignment. But the third thing is that, God wants to change and transform our heart, to be filled with love; to be healed, and filled with love, so what flows out of our heart into our activities and into our relationship, and into our walk with God, is a flow of love. Only out of intimacy, can we discover what God wants us to do. Only out of intimacy, do we become empowered to do what He calls us to do. Only out of intimacy, do we have encounters with the love of God, that move us to operate out of love.
Intimacy means having a surrendered, and a pure, heart; and Jesus modelled what this is like, and taught it. He surrendered to the Father's will. He taught intimate life, and He's looking for this. Let me give you a few examples…
1) He modelled intimacy with God. Look at Jesus' prayer life...
Mark 1:35 - “Now in the morning, having risen a long way before daylight, He went out and department to a solitary place, and there He prayed”.
There it is - Jesus modelling intimacy. That's why the disciples said: “teach us to pray”; and even in teaching them to pray, Jesus showed them exactly what it means to pray. He said: “Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”.
Notice He said: “Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” - that's intimacy. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” - that's a surrendered life. Jesus taught the surrendered life - that we come to God in intimacy; and surrender in humility; and then align with His will. We surrender to His will. Jesus Himself indicated how He surrendered to the Father's will…
John 6:38 – “I've come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me”.
Luke 22:41 – “When He was withdrawn about a stone's throw, He knelt down and prayed, saying Father, if it's Your will take this cup from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Your will be done”.
Notice then, it's about ‘surrender’ and ‘intimacy’. Jesus modelled surrender, intimacy, and humility. He modelled surrender to the Father's will, and then He taught about it. Jesus then looks for works that are motivated primarily by love for Him, and response to His spirit - that's what He's looking for; that's what's bringing Him pleasure. So that has several outcomes…
The first is, we need our own personal relationship with Jesus. You've got to commit time. There’s actually an effort, and a work involved, to build a prayer life. For example, Jesus taught (in Matthew 25:1-13) about the five wise, and five foolish, virgins. They were all virgins, meaning that they were all believers; but five were wise, and five were foolish. All had lamps, with oil, and all of them were waiting for the bridegroom. It says that the foolish said to the wise…
Matthew 25:8 – “Give us your oil, our lamps are going out. And the wise answered, saying: not so, lest there be not enough for us. Go to them that sell and buy for yourself”.
In other words, you need to do the work, you need to pay the price, to have the oil of intimacy.
“…And when they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut”.
So here is an example of reward and loss. The five foolish virgins, came later, and were denied access. It's talking about the reward Eternal Intimacy, and how important it is, for us to invest in our relationship with Jesus. Don't just get busy doing works. The primary thing is to ensure that the works we're doing are coming out of a relationship with Him. They're empowered out of the overflow of that relationship. Every believer must commit time and energy, and make a sacrifice, to buy the oil of intimacy. This is a work - getting up to pray, spending time fasting, spending time with God… this is an activity. This is a work we do. It's not a burdensome work, but there is a work in it.
Every believer, for example is called to be a priest; and our priesthood is an important part of our kingdom work. What is a priesthood? Priest is a person who comes to God, they offer prayer and worship and intercession, and they get empowered by God with ability, to be able to then bring blessing to others. Every believer is called firstly to a priesthood, to be a minister to God, in worship and in intimacy; and then everything we do flows out of the work we've done in our priesthood. Your priesthood to God is your first ministry, your first work, which empowers and changes everything.